Keystone Today

In 2022 alone, the number of border crossings have surpassed any year on record according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and with the midterm election this week, the fear of dangerous drugs coming into the U.S. is a top issue.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is running against Lt. Governor John Fetterman in a hotly contested race for a U.S. Senate seat. It is a race that has been making national news for months, with Republicans hoping to win the open seat with current Republican Sen. Pat Toomey retiring. Oz castigated Fetterman on Twitter for his support for President Joe Biden’s lax border policies.

“Fetterman would be a rubber stamp for Biden’s reckless border policies & make the crisis at our southern border even worse,” Oz said on September 25 while also posting an article from the National Review about the border crisis.

According to data released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in Pennsylvania, there were 5,400 overdose deaths reported from March 2021 to March 2022.

A report from CBP found that the Southwest had reached 1,860,009 crossings this year, which was the highest amount even with about two months left in the year. The monthly numbers have increased since the summer, as well.

"In total, there were 227,547 encounters along the southwest land border in September, a 12 percent increase compared to August. Of those, 19 percent involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months," the October 21 CBP operational report reads.

This has led to concern from voters that these numbers are tied to the fentanyl crisis plaguing the nation, with Pennsylvania being no exception.

According to declassified intelligence reports by the DEA, the New Generation Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels are the primary traffickers of fentanyl into the country. The cartels dominate the trafficking at the southern border leading into Arizona and California.

Washington Post columnist Marc Theissen said that President Biden’s policies are to blame for the crisis at the border.

“As the migrant crisis has grown over the past year, fentanyl seizures rose 56 percent in March 2022 compared with March 2021. And this surge in illegal drugs has contributed to the crime surge in U.S. cities,” he writes.

Fox News reported that 12,000 rainbow fentanyl pills were seized at the Los Angeles International Airport.